Victoria’s Ann Makosinski emerged victorious from the 2013 Google Science Fair on Monday night, winning her age category (15-16 year old) with her ‘Hollow Flashlight’, which is battery-free and runs off body heat from the human hand.

Makosinski – who was the sole Canadian of all 15 finalists at this year’s Science Fair – receives $25,000 in scholarship money by winning her age group.

This year’s Grand Prize winner was Eric Chen, who was also the Age 17-18 winner of the 2013 Google Science Fair. Chen invented a new anti-flu medicine.

Other winners were Elif Bilgin, who invented a way to create bioplastics from banana peels and won the Voter’s Choice prize and the Scientific American prize, and Viney Kumar, the Age 13-14 winner who invented a signalling system for emergency vehicles.

————————————————————

VIDEO: See the Finalists on the Google Campus (Streamed live on Sept. 22, 2013)